It doesn't seem three and a half months since Leeds Rhinos lifted the Super League trophy at Old Trafford and yet here we are, ready for a new season to commence. Super League has come a long way ever since Sheffield and Paris Saint Germain played the first ever Super League match infront of a crowd of 17,873 at the Charlety Stadium on Friday 26 March 1996 and who knows what the next eight and a bit months will bring as fourteen teams go to battle for the right to be crowned Grand Final winners on Saturday 2 October 2010.
Of course, the opening spectacle does appear to be more damp squib than summer fireworks as the "Crusaders" play host to the Leeds Rhinos. The second successive time this fixture has been used to launch Super League and whilst the merits of that can be debated the more passionate amongst us will just be glad to have anything back. And let's face it, you don't want to devour the steak without having tasted the soup.
Still, with the Crusaders coach Brian Noble publicly claiming that he will be forced to give shirts to players who aren't yet ready, you could be forgiven for expecting nothing short of a massacre which will do nothing to boost the fortunes of the Welsh outfit who have endured a tumultous off season which has seen them move from Bridgend to Wrexham and overhaul their playing roster with NRL fringe players and Hull bad boys. However, their coaching backroom offers some hope for later on in the year.
As for Leeds, they will be looking for an unprecedented fourth straight Grand Final success and they will be able to benefit from an extremely stable off season. The key switch having been the departure of Lee Smith to rugby union to be replaced by Brett Delaney, an Australian more known for his defence than his attack but who should be able to slot in seamlessly to the Leeds backline. And any side that can boast a new signing such as Greg Eastwood who just "adds one" to their 2009 squad will look to better their previous record, which will make Leeds a scary proposition for even their most fierce of rivals in 2010.
Newcomers to the game probably won't learn much by watching the game. In all probability, the match odds market will be 1.01 within the first twenty minutes and the handicap markets never attract the liquidity to make them a worthwhile proposition. However, you can never say never in Rugby League.
As for myself, I'll be looking mainly to sort out my approach for 2010.
In 2009 I developed a very highly energetic and succesful trading strategy which would regularly see me attempt to submit upto ten bets per minute depending upon odds fluctuations and the on field events. I did all this using Bet Trader Pro which now unfortunately no longer exists.
Moving software has been harder than you would think as, given the copious number of bets I submit and need to respond quickly I became reliant upon (what I considered standard) multiple bet windows... Which nowhere else seems to have.
I did find Bet Pod Pro which offer this functionality although sometimes the program can be cumbersome; especially at peak times when nearly all API programs are sluggish and whilst the newly launched Geek's Toy is indeed an excellent piece of software, it doesn't have multiple windows availability.
That said, its speed and customability makes it my preferred option and I have one or two ideas which I will look to test early in the season before fine tuning. After all, everyone needs a pre-season! And I have even been trading the Draw market in Rugby Union in a similar fashion to how I trade the RL draw market (although I haven't a clue about Rugby Union so have just been market trading, not reacting to in game events) to help me prepare for the upcoming season. Preparation or Obsession? Probably both!
Anyway, 4 days to go and I'm sure I'll be back here long before then to post some further comments as well as dropping by the forums listed on the left to discuss the upcoming season.
Just a quick note on my other trading which hasn't gone as well recently. The 'issues' I referred to previously are making a comeback and effecting both my desire and ability to trade as I am making some very peculiar decisions and this is heavily affecting my profitability. I just hope it won't effect my RL trading!
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